I find myself in the minority in my opinion of last year's Best Picture nominee "Gosford Park". While I've warmed up to the picture in the viewings since my original one a couple of weeks before the film's release, I still have reservations about the film. The movie stars a legion of British (and some American) actors (Charles Dance, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, Emily Watson and Kristin Scott Thomas). Guests are gathering at the house of Sir William McCordle for a weekend of hunting and chat. Upstairs, the guests are gathering and settling in, while downstairs, the servants are hard at work.

The setting is an enormous English mansion which has been lavishly dressed for the picture. McCordle (Michael Gambon) and wife Lady Sylvia (Kirstin Scott Thomas) are heading the affair, while guests include Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam) and producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban). Downstairs participants include: Weissman's "valet" (Ryan Phillipe), the maid (Kelly MacDonald) of the Countess (Maggie Smith) and head housemaid Elsie (Emily Watson), among others.

The film's first 90 minutes simply has the film following various conversations between the guests in the house. While the performances from a top-notch cast are quite good, there's little focus or development of each of what seems like around 25 speaking parts. While there are sharp exchanges of dialogue and impressive period details to appreciate, "Gosford Park" attempts to sustain itself on characters alone and not enough of them are well-developed enough to gain an interest in; it needs a few more elements: a little more drama, a little more intensity, a little more sharp humor. As is, several minutes of the opening 90 could have been deleted to assist the pace, which starts to lose forward momentum at points.

Eventually, "Gosford Park" turns into a murder mystery once the characters have all been introduced. Even so, the characters seemingly go on about their business afterwards while a bumbling investigator attempts to wrap-up the case. The performances in the film are mixed, with Emily Watson being my favorite of the enormous cast. As with the rest of the cast, she doesn't have much to work with, but she gives the role enough energy and depth to get interest. Maggie Smith is also wonderful, while Helen Mirren and Kelly MacDonald are also very good. I found little interest in most of the rest of the characters, some of which (Bob Balaban's producer character) might have been improved had they been given more focus.

The film functions respectably as an examination of British society at the time, but I found screenwriter Julian Fellowes' DVD commentary discussion of the same topic far more interesting and informative. I can appreciate some of the film's performances, the production design, cinematography and a few other aspects of the film, but I'm still a little surprised that the film gained a Best Picture nomination. Upon another viewing, I find the film a bit more involving, but I still think it suffers from some noticably slow moments early in the film and not enough focus on the main characters to hold interest.